“Or else I’ll smack your arse so hard you’ll feel my hand there for a week.”
“Tempting.” I catch the thong and tuck it into my palm. “I happen to be fond of your spankings… And your hands.”
I laugh and run out of my room. Tyler’s own quiet laugh follows me, and I flick the kettle to boiling. Brits and their fucking tea.
He wraps his arms around me from behind and buzzes his lips down my neck. “You’re a dirty, rotten tease, bitch.”
“And you’re awfully demanding.” I smile and throw a teabag into a mug for him. I spoon coffee into the second.
“It’s hard not to be when you give in to every single one… Especially if handcuffs are involved.”
“Or ties. Or scarfs. Or maybe chains,” I tease.
“Chains, hmm?”
“Are you getting ideas now?”
He reaches out and grabs his tea. He curls his fingers around the mug handle. “Liv,” he breathes close to my mouth. “All you have to do is exist and I get ideas. About you over my sofa. In the bath…. My balcony railings.”
A shiver runs through me from head to toe. “Balcony?”
“Where everyone could see you. I’ll give you three guesses where you’ll find yourself tonight.” He steps away as another shiver grasps my body.
I turn and watch him as he walks to my sofa. His steps are so steady, so smooth. Yet me? I don’t dare take a step because I know my legs are trembling.
The balcony? Over the railings? On the chair? On the table? Against the wall?
The possibilities are endless, and each idea scoots through my mind with a blinding flash. And I ache everywhere, already desperate for his touch.
The man is destroying me. And I’m relishing every second.
Tyler props his feet on my coffee table and looks over at me. His dark eyes glint knowingly, and the mug he raises to his mouth covers his smirk. “Aren’t you joining me?”
“Now or later?” I quip back.
“There’s no question about later, Liv. There never is. We both know you’ll be there.”
“So sure?” I cock an eyebrow.
He shows me his smirk now. His full, shit-eating, smug-ass smirk. “Positive. You’re forgetting one tiny detail.”
“And what’s that?”
“Our previous agreement still stands. When I call, you come running.”
“I’m your girlfriend. Not your fuck buddy.”
“So the only thing that’s changed is I get to buy you dinner before I fuck you how I want to.” He shrugs his shoulder. I bite my tongue. Damn him!
I bite my tongue. Damn him! “You’re hard work, you know that, Tyler Stone?”
He grins, showing his dimple. “Is hard the operative word in that sentence?”
I run my tongue across my teeth, fighting my smile. “I’m going to get ready for work before you decide you need yet another cold shower.” I set the mug on the counter and turn away.
“Liv? Don’t forget the underwear.”
My eyes cut to him and I snatch it from the table. “I never do.”
The bar is slowly starting to take shape. And when I say slowly, I mean slowly. The issue with the stairs from last time means it’ll take an extra three days to finish.
Which is something that isn’t going down well with Aaron right now—no matter how glad he is that it got him out of a third and final round of cake-tasting.
“I’m sorry, Will. I don’t have the time or the schedule for you to finish three days after agreed. You’ll have to bring some extra men in.” Aaron drops the blueprint onto the table and adjusts his tie.
“I have no extra men. They’re all booked.”
“Then I have to let your team go and bring in my standby builders.”
Standby builders?
Will, the guy in charge, bristles. “There’s no need for that, Mr. Stone. I’ll call the office and see if we can bring another team in.”
“There’s no seeing about it, Will. If you wish to keep this job, you will bring them in. You knew the schedule when you took the job on.” Aaron turns away from him, effectively ending the conversation, and waves me after him.
“Well, I’m glad you were here to have that conversation.”
His lips twitch. “Get used to it, Liv. Managing people means keeping asses in check by whatever means possible.”
“And I’m watching and learning from you.” I laugh. “Do you think they’ll have another team in here?”
“Absolutely. I paid them twice their fee for the short notice and rush job. They won’t want to lose the money or contract with me.”
“Power makes you kind of arrogant. Have you noticed that?”
“I believe Dayton once told me something similar, and I’ll say to you exactly what I did to her: It’s not arrogance when it’s the truth. With power and money comes ruthlessness. You don’t do what I want, then we’re done.”
I raise my eyebrows. “No, that’s not a power thing. That’s a Stone thing.”
He holds the door open for me with a smile. “On second thought, you could be correct there.”
“There’s no could be. I am correct.”
“See? You have the ‘don’t argue with me’ mentality already.”
“I have that because I’m a woman, not because I’m the manager of this place. I’ve had it since I was freakin’ two years old.”
Aaron laughs at the same time that my phone buzzes in my purse. I dig it out and look at the screen.
“Dayton,” he reads over my shoulder. “If she asks, I’m still busy with the builders.”
I purse my lips and answer. “Hi, Bridezilla.”
“Fuck yourself,” she responds without a beat. “Is Aaron there?”
“He’s right beside me. Would you like to talk to him?” I smile sweetly at the man glaring at me.
“Yes. Now.”
Uh oh.
I hand the phone over to him. “Your fiancée would like to talk to you.”
He shakes his head and steps away to talk to her. I grin, leaning against my car. I watch as he obviously tries to calm her down for whatever bridal kick she’s on today.
I am so never getting married.
Ever.
After a few minutes, Aaron brings my phone back to me and rubs his temples. “She wants you to meet at her Starbucks. I asked her which, and she snapped, and I quote, ‘She knows which fucking Starbucks I mean. We’ve used the same place for five fucking-ass years.’”